‘Tom, you have to come across the street and talk to Bill, he is freaking
out,’ said Betsy, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the stairs that
connected the two roads.

‘Okay, okay, it’s just Bill acting weird, relax Betsy,’ I said.

I walked across the road with her toward the stairs. The street lamp was
broken and I could just make out Bill lounging on the stairs looking up the
hill. Even the shadows were swallowed by the over hanging trees and the full
moon left a yellow glow across the concrete steps. There was no sound from
the party and it was too still. I shivered in the summer night.

‘Bill you okay?’ I asked walking up the couple steps to where he lay.

‘Oh man, Tom, yeah I am okay,’ he said in that far off voice he got when he
was stoned. ‘I couldn’t be better, it’s so…quiet here.’

‘It is that. You want to come in the house?’

‘No man, I am just resting here for a minute before I go,’ he drawled.

Starting to feel nervous I asked, ‘Go where?’

‘I am just gonna walk up these stairs to the moon.’